CELEBRA EL DÍA DE ACCIÓN DE GRACIAS LESSON PLAN FOR GRADES 3 6 Book/Text Set: Celebra el Día de Acción de Gracias con Beto y Gaby / Qué es el Día de Acción de Gracias? by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy Content Overview: In the fiction story, Beto and Gaby are waiting for their relatives to come for Thanksgiving dinner, only to find that none of them can make it because of a big snowstorm. Only Grandma shows up, along with several friends, and the celebration turns out to be very special. The non-fiction section tells about two early Thanksgiving celebrations in North America, the creation of the national holiday, and the foods and activities enjoyed by Americans on this holiday. Materials and Preparation chart paper and colored markers unlined white paper construction paper in manila and fall colors assorted books about Thanksgiving Standards Covered NCSS Social Studies Strands I. Culture: a, b, d, e II. Time, Continuity, and Change: b, c, d, e, f III. People, Places, and Environments: a, b, e, h IV. Individual Development and Identity: c, e, h IX. Global Connections: b, f NCTE/IRA English Language Arts Standards: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 Vocabulary F: anuncia / en cantidad / retrasados / exclama / generosidad * NF: cosecha / dificultades / peregrinos / wampanoags / sobrevivir / nacional / compartir / recolecciones / agradecer * * The words generosidad and agradecer are not in the book; they are added to the vocabulary list because they are integral to the story and will be used in discussion and questions. Pacing Guide 3 days; 45 60 minute sessions, plus optional extensions
Reading and Activities DAY 1 Explore the Topic: Día de Acción de Gracias / Generosidad Start a discussion about what it means to be generous. Introduce the word generosidad into the conversation. Have students give examples of times they have shared things. After several students have responded, tell them you re going to read a Thanksgiving story about a generous family. Vocabulary Introduction At the top of a piece of chart paper, write Día de Acción de Gracias and then list the vocabulary words for the fiction section in a column. Then add the word generosidad. Read the words with students and ask for volunteers to give definitions or use them in sentences. As students respond, add to their responses as necessary to give a clear definition of each word. Fiction Read-Aloud & Discussion On a piece of chart paper, write, Día de Acción de Gracias: Hechos que conocemos. Have students tell what they know about Thanksgiving, and write their responses on the chart. Review all responses with students and leave the chart on display. In this session you will read aloud only the fiction story, Celebra el Día de Acción de Gracias con Beto y Gaby. Before reading the story, show the cover and have a volunteer read the title aloud. Have students infer who the people on the cover are. As you read, stop to have students use context to define unfamiliar words. Ask students to listen for acts of generosity, and make note of the growing number of guests being invited by Grandma. When the story is finished, ask students to recall the generous acts in the story sequentially and to tell how these acts might affect the larger community (beyond the family itself). Ask the following questions, using the illustrations in the book whenever appropriate to help students with their responses: Beginning Intermediate Advanced 1. Dónde está la abuela? 2. Qué compartió la mamá de Beto y Gaby con los vecinos? 3. Quiénes vinieron a la casa de Beto y Gaby con la abuela? 1. Por qué está la abuela en un autobús? Adónde va? 2. Por qué la mamá compartió la comida con los vecinos? 3. Por qué la abuela invita a tanta gente a la cena de Acción de Gracias? Además de sus invitados, qué más trajo la abuela? 1. Comenta las llamadas que recibió la familia de Beto y Gaby. 2. Nombra una persona del cuento que sea generosa. Explica cómo esa persona demuestra su generosidad. 3. Qué crees que comerá la familia en la cena de Acción de Gracias? p.2/6
After discussion, review the Día de Acción de Gracias: Hechos que conocemos chart to note whether any responses match or relate to events in the story. On a new piece of chart paper, write Día de Acción de Gracias: Nuestras preguntas and ask students what they would like to know about Thanksgiving that they don t already know. Have them write their own questions using a variety of alternating colors for each question. When finished, review the questions and leave both charts on display side by side. DAY 2 Vocabulary Activity Review the words on the vocabulary list by having volunteer students read, define, and use them in sentences. Add the vocabulary words for the non-fiction section to the list. Then add the word agradecer. Read the words aloud with students and ask for volunteers to define or use them in sentences. Add to student responses as necessary to define each word. As an extra activity, ask students to give you as much words as they know that belong to the family of agradecer. Ask them to use some of these words in sentences. Some options include agradecido(a), desagradecido(a), agradecimiento. Accept gracias and gratitud as valid as they share the same root. Show students the cover of Celebra el Día de Acción de Gracias con Beto y Gaby and ask someone to tell the main idea of the story. Conduct a short discussion about generosity and the ways it can be shown on Thanksgiving Day and other days. Tell students that you are going to read a story that tells about how Thanksgiving started and how people celebrate this holiday. Non-Fiction Read-Aloud & Discussion Before reading, review both the Hechos que conocemos and the Nuestras preguntas charts. Tell students that the writing activity they will be doing will require many facts about Thanksgiving, so you d like them to listen carefully to see if any of their questions are answered in the second half of the book. Open the book to pages 16 17 and have a volunteer student read the section title. As you begin reading the story Qué es el Día de Acción de Gracias?, point out Texas and Massachusetts on the maps, and use a globe or world map to show the distance between Europe and North America. Pause to make special note of any information that may be different from what students have written on the Hechos que conocemos chart. Stop to define and discuss any words students may not know. When the read-aloud is finished, elicit a comparison between the information on pages 26 27 and Grandma bringing guests to Thanksgiving dinner in the fictional story. Then, discuss the last paragraph on page 29. Continue having students discuss the information by answering the following questions: p.3/6
Beginning 1. Quiénes hicieron una cena de acción de gracias en Plymouth? Y en El Paso? 2. Cómo ayudaron los wampanoags a los peregrinos? 3. Di algunas cosas que se hacen el Día de Acción de Gracias. Intermediate 1. Dónde hicieron los peregrinos una cena de acción de gracias? A quiénes invitaron? 2. Qué celebraron Oñate y su gente en su fiesta de acción de gracias? 3. Nombra algunas maneras de compartir cosas durante el Día de Acción de Gracias. Advanced 1. Explica de qué maneras los wampanoags ayudaron a los peregrinos a sobrevivir. 2. Habla sobre el viaje de Oñate y la fiesta de acción de gracias que celebró. 3. Qué crees que es lo más importante del Día de Acción de Gracias? Por qué? After discussion, review the Hechos que conocemos chart to analyze the statements for accuracy and conflict with information from the story. If statements on the chart conflict with factual information, elicit a discussion with students using readings of short passages of the text. Add to the title of this chart by crossing out Hechos que conocemos and inserting Lo que sabíamos y pensábamos. To the right of the Nuestras preguntas chart, post another piece of chart paper so that all three charts are posted in sequence. At the top of the new piece of chart paper, write Día de Acción de Gracias: Respuestas que hallamos and ask students to identify any questions that may have been answered during the reading. Color code the questions and answers by writing the answers directly across from each question using the same color marker as was used for that question. When finished, leave any unanswered question spaces blank. Post a fourth piece of chart paper in line with the others. At the top, write Día de Acción de Gracias: Hechos que no conocíamos. Ask students to write on this chart any Thanksgiving information that is completely new to them. Be sure to remind students that some information may be new to some students and known to others, but if the information is new to anyone, it can go onto the chart. When finished with this chart, ask students to review each item and to formulate a question that can be answered by each fact. DAY 3 Vocabulary Review Have students work with the Hechos del Día de Acción de Gracias worksheet. As students finish, allow some time to browse and read additional books about Thanksgiving and add new information to the charts. As a whole group, review all the charts and add any new information where appropriate. If more questions have been answered, have students refer to the books where they found the answers and show the pages to the class. p.4/6
Writing Activity Tell students that they will work together to write collaborative Question and Answer Books called Hechos sobre el Día de Acción de Gracias and that each person will write one page. Further explain that each page will have the question on the front and the answer on the back so that the reader will need to turn the page to get the answer. Write the directions on the board: 1. Escribe la pregunta en una hoja de papel. 2. Escribe e ilustra la respuesta en otra hoja de papel. 3. Vuelve a leer y corrige si cometiste errores. 4. Recorta los papeles formando figuras interesantes. 5. Pega los papeles en la parte de adelante y de atrás de una cartulina. Read the directions with students and show a couple of model pages to make sure they understand what they are to do. To prepare for the writing, review the vocabulary list. Let students know that you can write any other words they need on the board after they begin to write. Review all the charts too, and talk about questions and answers. Review what the questions might have been for the Hechos que no conocíamos chart. Assign information for the pages to students. Some students may use charted question/answer pairs, while others may need to create questions to go with charted facts. For younger or beginning students, the question/answer pairs can be cut up into strips and taken to students desks for easier copying. Some question/answer pairs may be assigned to two students so that at least two books are created. More research may also be done to find additional information. Compile all finished pages in an order that preserves continuity and bind into two or more books. For more durability, laminate all the pages before binding. Read the finished books aloud to the class and add them to the classroom library. Extensions Writing Art Music Mathematics Read Shel Silverstein s poem Punto de vista from his book Donde el camino se corta. Discuss the poem and then write a poem or story about Thanksgiving from the turkey s point of view. Illustrate your writing. Make a classroom mural showing examples of generosity. Use a variety of student-drawn illustrations and writing, magazine pictures with captions, newspaper articles, and any other appropriate sources. Learn the song, Gracias a la vida by Violeta Parra. Lyrics can be found online at http://www.trovadores.net/nc.php?nm=685 Listen to the song at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw3igds-nna&eurl= Use newspaper grocery ads to shop for Thanksgiving dinner. Working in groups, plan a healthy, balanced menu. Create a chart listing the food p.5/6
items and prices. Calculate the amount it would cost to feed one family, ten families, twenty families, etc. Social Studies Start or actively participate in a school-wide food drive. Make posters to put in classrooms to encourage giving. As the food is collected, sort it by food group. On a map, trace the route of Juan de Oñate from Mexico to El Paso and create a timeline to go with it. See Technology for suggested resources to learn more about Oñate s journey. Technology Information for teachers: http://www.halcyon.com/pub/fwdp/americas/tchthnks.txt Learn more about Thanksgiving: http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwsthnk.shtml Learn about the food Pilgrims and Wampanoags ate at their Thanksgiving celebration, and cook some easy dishes: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/foodforthought_sp/0111.html Learn more about the Wampanoags: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/wampanoag Read more about the history of the first Thanksgiving in El Paso: http://www.ahoranews.com/news.php?nid=265 Find out more about Juan de Oñate and his expedition from Mexico to El Paso: http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/o/onate_juan.htm http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/juan_de_oñate Creative Reading Share this book with your students using Alma Flor Ada s Creative Reading methodology based on the principles of Transformative Education. Suggested questions to initiate the dialogue are provided for Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced levels as well as selfassessment tools for teachers and students in English and Spanish. Santillana USA Publishing Company, Inc. Developed by Renee Goularte Renee Goularte started teaching in the late 1980s. She has taught students in all elementary grades, and has worked specifically with English language learners, at-risk students, and GATE students. Renee holds a Master s Degree in Elementary Education from San José State University. In addition to teaching, she also writes and presents workshops for teachers. Renee lives in Northern California. p.6/6